Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle - PS5 Review

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle by developer Invader Studios and publisher Leonardo Interactive—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes.

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Taking a step backwards through time from the zombie apocalypse of Daymare 1998, Daymare 1994: Sandcastle brings about its own level of insanity. Sent out to the mysterious Area 51 in order to retrieve "something", it doesn't take long for everything to go sideways as mysterious monsters start appearing out of nowhere trying to kill you as you take on the role of Delila Reyes.

When I originally sat down to Sandcastle for a first look, the slick controls and the visuals off my PC in ultra wide let me know I was in for a good time. So it was a little shocking to me that the PS5, a super powerful console, didn't look as good with its 4K until I dropped it down to performance mode. Even then? Cutscenes were hit and miss visually with glitches in the character models and other elements in the background.

The overall controls however were decent and allowed for some responsive actions which is good because you're going to need it. Unfortunately for Reyes, EVERYTHING moves faster than she does. While at first I felt like it was perhaps a mistake in the design, I soon came to realize that you're supposed to be slower than these monsters appearing from thin air. The difference between you and them though is that you're supposed to be smarter. Or at least more cunning. 

What I appreciated, and this was from start to finish, is that Reyes only had three weapons. A submachine gun. A shotgun. And a H.A.D.E.S. special tech liquid nitrogen launcher with tons of neat toys. Starting off with a frost spray and bullet, it doesn't take long to get mines, a shield and a frost bomb to really lay it out to the monsters. It never gets more complicated than this and honestly? Once you know how to use them all in tandem, you don't need some fifty odd weapons clogging up your inventory space. I also really appreciated not getting stuck with a useless pistol like so many others in the genres do.

So it's with this gear that you are meant to survive your way through Area 51 and its many tight corridors as well as open spaces. In these spaces though, you're never truly safe. There's always an edge as to whether you're going to be attacked or not, and if you are? How bad is that encounter going to be?

Like Reyes' weapons, enemies are also kept to a minimum and come in three flavors. Your basic mindless runners. Your spitters. And then the absolute worst things ever. EVER! Maybe that's a tad dramatic but UHG. The last type is a flying grotesque creature straight out of H.P. Lovecraft and if it touches you? Dead. Doesn't matter how much health you have. Dead. There is no safety to these making them very infuriating especially when more than one comes out to play. Because you’re most likely going to be dead.

These absolute horrors to my existence aside, you may be wondering. Three enemy types? That's it? Yup. However, you won't have the time to really complain about only three as there are other mechanics in play which can become an absolute nightmare of their own.

"Basic" enemies can be seen glowing with blue electricity. These enemies can be frozen and shattered, taking them out of the equation, or, if you have enough ammo, blown apart with either your shotgun or a portion of your SMG's clip. When they "die" a glowing orb of electricity will float upwards signaling that it's ready to infect another corpse. If it does, it's coming right back at you until there are no bodies left in the vicinity. Taking these floating orbs out with your ice abilities will save you a lot of issues especially when dealing with a crowd.

"Advanced" enemies are enemies glowing with red electricity and are essentially immortal by Highlander standards. No amount of shotgun blasts or SMG rounds will take them out. You in these cases absolutely need your ice weapons to freeze them solid before opening fire or using your fist to break them apart. There are thankfully a lot less of these, and like the blue ones, if you don't take out the floating orb, you'll have to face another one. Oh, and one final tiny detail… if you don't take out the blue orbs fast enough, and it will happen, they can possess another current enemy instead of a corpse turning them into an immortal. Fun times!

This combination works to keep the types of enemies down and keep the overall combat somewhat reasonable as you generally know what to expect enemy wise. What will add to your stress however is the amount of enemies that can show up at the same time. It will honestly make you wonder how sadistic the developers really wanted to be… but once you really get rolling and understand how to approach each situation, it’s really not that bad. Well it isn’t that bad unless you’ve died more times than you would have to a Dark Souls boss…

Unfortunately, Daymare 1994: Sandcastle isn’t without its performance issues on the PS5. I already stated some issues above, but they weren't the only ones. While load times were decent, the checkpoint system in-between save points was either decent or was taking a page out of Demon's Souls where you had to run the whole damned level EVERY TIME YOU DIED TO THE ONE SHOT HORRORS. I'm not mad. I swear. Sometimes some of the controls would work as intended, such as being able to perform a 180 turn, while other times your character would simply take a step or two at moments that would have really counted. Such as, the instant death enemies.

Gameplay issues aside, I often found myself having an issue with the story. Do not get me wrong. I absolutely love a campy B grade horror show. I don’t do actual horror, but B level horror? All in. There’s often a great balance between something that could be scary and then the ridiculously that takes the edge off of it. Sandcastle starts our campy but then actually takes itself more seriously about halfway through. This would have been fine as there would have been this shift in gears and I could have been ok with that. But then it drops right back into campy and the “magic” felt broken so to speak.

While I would have liked to score Daymare 1994: Sandcastle higher, there are currently simply too many performance issues with the PS5 version. I do hope to see some of those fixed as there is some solid gameplay to be found once you get your actual footing and realize how you’re supposed to play. Overall though, I can say I mostly enjoyed my time with Sandcastle and hope to see another entry into the series.

Score 6.75 / 10

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Shattered Heaven Preview

Shattered Heaven by developer Leonardo Production and publisher Leonardo Interactive—PC (Steam) preview written by Hayden with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

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Shattered Heaven is a deck-builder tactical RPG with extensive story elements, set in a world trying to limp towards redemption. Taking command of a team of three heroes, the player must forge a path through dangerous dungeons and defeat competing hero teams to emerge victorious. The game employs a mix of exploration (including traps and choices that can impact your path), crafting and story sections to keep the player pushing towards the finish.

Even in the early build that was bestowed on us to preview, this is a game that keeps you playing, and has no signs of major bugs or issues that would be a cause for concern.

Combat

Shattered Heaven showed us four major levels of interaction as we progressed through it. First, the combat screen. Done as a 2D turn-based system, players will have to balance the costs of playing each ability on each character’s turn. Each character is given a limited number of Action Points (AP) that they can either spend or save for later turns, and cards may take AP, health, or other costs when played.

For example, some powerful abilities may result in random hex cards being added to the character’s deck. When drawn at the beginning of subsequent turns, these hex cards will usually result in a debuff - but the benefit you got initially might just be worth the cost later on.

In classic RPG fashion, combat won’t end until all enemies have been reduced to zero health. The three characters the player controls are each initially inclined towards a particular type of combat role. This can be changed over time through customizing their card decks and choosing different talents. At the end of combat, the player will receive three new cards, and must give one to each character.

This choice is surprisingly important, as I did not see any way to later trade cards between characters. You can choose how to build your decks between dungeons, but each character’s deck can only be composed of cards that that character has collected. If you want to turn your tank into a damage dealer, for example, your choices after battles need to reflect this to give them the cards they need to fill that role.

Exploration

Second, Shattered Heaven uses a tile-like map for dungeon exploration. The party can only move one tile at a time to an adjacent map piece, and each new tile entered has a chance of being a combat, an event (including traps), or just an empty room. Events frequently offer a choice to the player in how to resolve them, and potential outcomes are clearly presented.

For example, a tile containing a trap event may give options to try to dodge the trap or use an item to try to disarm it. Both options will show the respective chances of success, making it clear to the player what they are choosing between. Other events may have no real “right” answer, offering a choice between two different debuffs for example. These sorts of choices with no clear right answer are a recurring theme in Shattered Heaven. Overall, this reinforces the idea of a broken world where there really is not a clear way forward for anyone.

Art and Graphics

Third, Shattered Heaven gives us some extremely beautiful 2D art scenes for locations as hubs for activity. The central cathedral in the game serves as the home base for the player. From here players will access dungeon selections, get quest information, buy and sell at merchants, craft, improve characters and more.

Leonardo Productions has done a great job in maintaining a consistent environmental aesthetic here, and these scenes really reinforce it. The impression is of a once-beautiful world, now drained of most of its color and the vibrancy of life. This isn’t to say that the game is rendered entirely in drab sepia tones. Individual characters and monsters still use colorful palettes, but the environment as a whole provides that impression.

Story

Much of the story in Shattered Heaven is delivered via dialogue, using a 2D art style common to many RPGs. While much of the dialogue is a simple read-click-read format, there are also times when a choice in how to proceed is presented. Will you trust your childhood friend - who is now a competing hero - with your true thoughts, or deceive them? The conversation proceeds differently depending on your choice, giving more replayability to the game. After all, don't you want to see how else things could unfold?

Customization

As a deck-building RPG, Shattered Heaven makes sure that players have control of what is available to them. New cards are collected after each battle and dungeon, and the contents of the decks can be configured between dungeons. Each character’s deck must always contain 20 cards, with a few limitations on how many high-rarity cards you can include. Some of these limits can be relaxed through crafter upgrades (more on that below). Overall however, there will always be tough choices to be made on what does and does not get included.

Crafting

Crafting is a key component of Shattered Heaven, and several different resources are used in the game to support this. The most common are ‘bones’, which serve as the basic coin of the realm here. Merchants will accept these for common items and temporary in-dungeon buffs, and these are gained after most combats.

More rare are ‘black bones’, which serve as the currency to upgrade character abilities and reduce restrictions on deck-building. Beyond this, the game provides a plethora of ingredients and reagents that can be collected and purchased. Used in creating potions and other items, everything comes down to aiding your party’s progress in dungeons.

Conclusion

Shattered Heaven is already in a good state even with significant time before the game hits public release. Game mechanics seem well developed and balanced, and the game’s graphics and visuals have a strong and consistent theme. In terms of audio there are hints that there may be sections with voiced character lines, although this did not yet seem complete in the Act 1 development build we had access to preview.

Based on what I’ve seen here, Shattered Heaven is definitely a title to add to your wishlist. An expected release date in October 2022 based on their Steam page is also a pleasant surprise, beating the date from the original Kickstarter by two months. As the latest entry in a chain of solid releases, Shattered Heaven looks set to be another great addition to Leonardo Interactive’s stable of games.

Summary

A deck-building RPG, Shattered Heaven is a tactically challenging romp in a world drained of hope. Solid mechanics and gorgeous art even in early development builds give us confidence that this project from Leonardo Interactive is one to put on your wishlist now. Crafting, customizable decks, multipath dungeon exploration and an interesting story will land on target with players looking for fun when this releases in October 2022.

Score: N/A

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Free to Play Game 'Temperia: Soul of Majestic' Launched into Early Access Stage!

Rome, Italy - 26th July 2022 - Publisher Leonardo Interactive and developers MoonWolf Entertainment and A2 Softworks today announced that their strategic competitive online card game Temperia: Soul of Majestic is available today on Steam Early Access as a Free-To-Play title.

Temperia: Soul of Majestic is a strategic competitive collectible online card game that mixes the mechanics of Tic-Tac-Toe and chess as well as other card games to create a lightning-fast skill-based strategy board game. Quick, strategic, and totally open-handed, every match is different thanks to the abilities of the creatures, the equipment, the powers, and the elemental spaces presented on the board. Success in Temperia is based purely on the skill of the player!

The extraordinary, totally open-handed game style and the combination of two decks in one, comprising 20 Creature and 20 Equipment cards, are features that make Temperia a unique proposition in its genre.

“We are thrilled to finally launch Temperia: Soul of Majestic into Early Access after many months of development and closed Beta testing where we collected valuable feedback from our community” Commented Leonadro Caltagirone, Founder of Leonardo Interactive. “Working with the fantastic MoonWolf Entertainment and A2 Softworks to bring this project to life has been a real adventure and we are excited to finally release Temperia on Early Access and invite the players to join us on our journey to full release.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97drnZL_mLg

Features of Temperia: Soul of Majestic

• OPEN-HANDED - One of the distinctive traits of Temperia: Soul of Majestic resides in the open-handed game mechanic, in which all cards are face up. An innovative feature that allows you to play face-to-face against your opponent with no secrets!

• SKILL-BASED - Rise to the top of the international competitive scene based on your ability. Just like in chess – where everything is on display – in Temperia you should exploit the open-handed mechanic to plan for changing dynamics and deploy different strategies, giving life to exciting and never-repetitive matches. Defeat your opponents, prove your skills, climb the leaderboard and assert yourself in the Esports scene of Temperia: Soul of Majestic!

• RANDOMNESS - Strategy, and cold-bloodedness required. Temperia is a skill-based game where randomness is limited and the impact of chance is minimal. Have you got ice in your veins, and are you ready to put your abilities to the test?

• BY PLAYERS FOR PLAYERS - The developers, Enrico “Wolfillupo” Fedoni and Dario “Moonryde” Ferracci are hardcore gamers and Twitch streamers whose experience and expertise ensure they pay particular attention to the needs of players during the design phase of the game. Temperia is a game created by players for players.

• COMMUNITY-BASED - Temperia has been tested by hundreds of players from around the world with positive feedback. The developers have listened to their community to improve the product thanks to the responses received. Don't hesitate, play Temperia: Soul of Majestic and share your opinion!

Temperia: Soul of Majestic is available today on Steam Early Access as a Free-To-Play title. Follow Temperia’s journey on the Leonardo Interactive website here

About Leonardo Interactive

Leonardo Interactive is an award-winning video game publisher based in Rome that managed a series of productions and publications of titles available on all the mainstream Platforms. Bringing its titles to market in both digital and physical formats, Leonardo Interactive has achieved a series of hits in various genres such as our visual novel Dry Drowning, the click n’ point adventure Willy Morgan Curse of Bone Town, and our real-time strategy game Hell Architect. Leonardo Interactive's next releases are Temperia: Soul of Majestic, Shattered Heaven, Simon The Sorcerer Origins, and Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle.

About MoonWolf Entertainment

MoonWolf Entertainment is a company in the world of game development. It specializes in creating the Game Design of games for all platforms, in cooperation with worldwide developers and publishers.

About A2 Softwork

A2 Softworks is a game development studio that is most known for developing Gatewalkers (co-op aRPG & survival). It specializes in multiplayer cross-platform games for PC, mobile, and consoles. The studio designs and creates its own games as well as in cooperation with worldwide publishers.

Article by: Susan N.

5 Min Read

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Shattered Heaven Coming to Early Access in Q4!

Rome, Italy - 20th July, 2022. Global publisher Leonardo Interactive is thrilled to announce that their thrilling new deck-building rogue-lite RPG Shattered Heaven, will be coming to PC Early Access in Q4 2022. Shattered Heaven will be the new title from the company’s internal development division, Leonardo Production, and will be published by Leonardo Interactive.

Set in a dark fantasy world, Shattered Heaven combines classic card game/roguelike gameplay with deck builder and RPG elements to create a thrilling story-driven player experience with high replay value thanks to the multi-branch narrative structure. Procedurally generated dungeons and a deep crafting system add to the gripping narrative that is influenced by players’ choices all brought to life in a unique 2D hand-drawn art style with a dark and Lovecraftian flavor.

“I am thrilled to finally reveal our new internally developed title: Shattered Heaven.” Commented Leonardo Caltagirone, founder of Leonardo Interactive. “We have been working tirelessly behind the scenes at Leonardo Production to deliver our vision of this title, and following our hugely successful Kickstarter campaign, we have built a solid community of fans and feedback to help us shape the future release. We believe that we have an exciting and engaging experience with Shattered Heaven and can’t wait for the fans and community to join us on our journey”.

https://youtu.be/f6Rx2GOSbeY

About Shattered Heaven

A betrayal, a dying God, An ancient curse, a divine punishment. A forsaken world suspended in time and buried in ashes.

In a nameless world, only a select few survived the fall of God. Striving to live in a hostile environment and feeding on what their barren land has to offer, four factions are bound in a merciless fight for survival. Victims of a terrible curse, these populations are condemned to sleepless nights, infertility, and doomed to die at the age of 40. The only way to break the curse is to offer a Vestal and a team of valiant warriors as a sacrifice for a ritual lost in time: a violent and bloody battle known as the War of Ascension.

Which faction will win the brutal battle and secure the survival of their people? In Shattered Heaven, you will decide their fate!

Features:

• Dynamic deckbuilding – Build your initial starting decks (three decks, one for each of your heroes) and customize them by drafting new ones during each run, for an ever-changing gameplay experience

• Tactical RPG fights – Slay epic monsters in procedurally generated dungeons and loot valuable treasures! Upgrade your equipment and enhance your strategy thanks to a deep skill tree system

• Story branching – A game with an ambitious branching narrative, where your decisions not only determine the fate of the main characters but that of the entire world.

• Unique mechanics – Each character features completely different mechanics and fighting skills, which can be further customized through trinkets and the skill tree.

• Innovative Crafting system – Use treasures and recipes you discover inside the dungeons to create and upgrade potions, weapons, and amulets.

• Pick your poison – Choose a difficulty and a special effect that changes every time at the start of each dungeon and earn black bones used to improve characters at the dark forge.

Shattered Heaven will be launching for PC in Q4 2022. Fans can Wishlist the game on Steam now. For more information please visit the official website here and follow Leonardo Production / Shattered Heaven on social media channels Twitter / Facebook / Instagram / Discord.

About Leonardo Interactive

Leonardo Interactive is an award-winning video game publisher based in Rome that managed a series of productions and publications of titles available on all the mainstream Platforms. Bringing its titles to market in both digital and physical formats, Leonardo Interactive has achieved a series of hits in various genres such as our visual novel Dry Drowning, the click n’ point adventure Willy Morgan Curse of Bone Town, and our real-time strategy game Hell Architect. Leonardo Interactive's next releases are Temperia: Soul of Majestic, Shattered Heaven, Simon The Sorcerer Origins, and Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle.

About Leonardo Production

The inspiration born from the passion for narrating stories is what drove Leonardo Interactive to establish its first own development studio: Leonardo Production, an Italian studio focused on multi-branching story-driven games that blend RPGS, roguelites, dungeon crawlers, and card games to create unique experiences that have great artistic and musical assets. The core of the original studio was established in 2016 with its first title Dry Drowning, an award-winning dystopian detective story with a massive branching narrative. The sum of all these elements is Shattered Heaven, our first own-produced project.

Article by: Susan N.

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Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle - PC (Steam) Preview

Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle by developer Invader Studios and publisher Leonardo Interactive—PC (Steam) preview written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes 

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Having released Daymare: 1998 on PC in 2019 and consoles in 2020, Invader Studios are back with a prequel to their take on the zombie apocalypse with Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle. Taking on the shoes of Dalila Reyes, a former government spy now in the service of H.A.D.E.S. unit, our first look has her going through a seemingly secret government facility in which only corpses can be found littering the ground as something is banging on the outside door trying to get in.

Check out Mylene’s PC Review and Pierre-Yves’ PS4 Review of the original Daymare: 1998.

Overall enjoying my time with Invader Studios’ first title short of how zombies just didn’t die which was my only major complaint, I liked having a classic zombie based puzzle horror Resident Evil styled experience that was made by someone else. On that point, Invader Studios delivered a solid experience with its own mechanics and quirks to help you survive. Back again and with its own new quirks, this is really just a quick taste of Daymare: 1944 Sandcastle but I think we are in for a good time if the introduction is anything to go by.

Not exactly sure where it’ll fit into the overall adventure, other than perhaps somewhere close to the beginning, the current build that we got to take a look at set us up in some sort of US Government military installation. Dark and quietly eerie, this space works as a great introduction for how to move around as Dalila as she searches for a man named Commander Foster.

From the moment that you are given control of Dalila it is clear to see that the development team have put a lot of work into their latest title. While no longer being able to walk, jog and run like in Daymare: 1998, walking and running are easy to swap between and both feel natural as you move through the installation that we got to play through. Switching from looking around to aiming is the same thing and there are no issues with lining up for a headshot even with a controller which felt like it was thought of from the beginning and not an afterthought.

As for what you'll be aiming at… that's something I'm going to want a lot more context on but my interest is piqued. In this quick look you will not be going up against the undead, or at least, I don't think they are the undead. Creatures which look like muscular burnt husks of what may have once been humans will be charging at you in either a blue or red energy arcing variety.

It's a little odd compared to your standard and mutated undead but it was also a bit refreshing to see something other than a zombie. What’s neat about these versus the traditional undead is that once they die the energy is released and if you calculate it properly, you can use it to help take out others once you are no longer dealing with one at a time. I'm fully expecting to see zombies in Daymare: 1994 but as a prequel I'm also expecting, especially after this, a bit of creative weirdness as who knows what else goes on within these secret government installations.

What I also enjoyed about this first look is that it wasn't just a run and gun. Slowly starting there's an atmosphere that builds up as it's just too quiet. Other than the beings charging at you you'll have to figure your way through a few doors and passageways which is where the puzzles started to come into play. Not just needing to get a key card or adjust a platform to the right level, Dalila also has a cryo extinguisher to put out flames, cool off pipes or stop a creature in its tracks to allow you either a very easy kill shot, or at least enough time to reload.

Summary

Just when things start to get really good though our first look ends but you can also get a glimpse of this during the currently on-going Steam Next Fest February 2022 edition. With what we’ve been able to see so far though, Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle should be fairly interesting once we get to sit down to the full experience once it launches for the PC and consoles later this year.

Score: N/A

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Announcing a New Card Game Titled 'Temperia: Soul of Majestic' by Moonwolf Entertainment

Rome, Italy - December 7, 2021 - Publisher Leonardo Interactive and developer Moonwolf Entertainment have officially announced Temperia: Soul of Majestic, the first international strategic card game with an innovative “Open-Handed” mechanic. Temperia: Soul of Majestic is unique in that players must use totally exposed cards and two decks: one of 20 Creatures and another of 20 Equipment. Each match is completely different thanks to the countless creature abilities, equipment, and elemental powers that may be found on the game's board.

Created by independent Italian company Moonwolf Entertainment Srl, developed by A2 softworks and born from the minds of game designers Enrico "Wolfillupo" Fedoni and Dario "Moonryde" Ferracci, Temperia: Soul of Majestic includes a variety of features that distinguish it from other card games on the market:

● OPEN-HANDED: One of the hallmarks of Temperia: Soul of Majestic lies in its “Open-Handed” mechanic, which allows players to face one another with their cards exposed. This innovative feature is rarely implemented in competitive card games and ensures every match is cerebral and electrifying.

● SKILL-BASED: Just like in chess - where everything is out in the open - players in Temperia: Soul of Majestic will be able to take advantage of the "Open-Handed" feature to execute dynamic strategies. The title will also include a classification system that rewards players based on results achieved. Temperia: Soul of Majestic was designed with the goal of gradually becoming an international eSport sensation.

● FORTUITY: Temperia: Soul of Majestic is a game of skill. Randomness is limited and RNG impact is minimal. Are you ready to strategize?

● BY PLAYERS, FOR PLAYERS: Enrico "Wolfillupo" Fedoni and Dario "Moonryde" Ferracci are hardcore gamers and Twitch atreamers with in-depth knowledge of video game mechanics. They pay strong attention to the needs of players.

● COMMUNITY-BASED: Temperia: Soul of Majestic has been tested by hundreds of players and received positive feedback from around the world. The developers will continue to listen to their community to improve the game.

Published by Leonardo Interactive, created by Moonwolf Entertainment, and developed by A2 softworks, Temperia: Soul of Majestic will be available on PC and Mac via STEAM next year. A version for iOS, Android, and Windows devices will arrive later in 2022.

To keep up to date with the latest information regarding Temperia: Soul of Majestic or to learn more about the game, please visit our website.

About Leonardo Interactive

Leonardo Interactive is an award-winning video game publisher based in Rome that boasts a series of productions and publications of award-winning titles available on all the mainstream platforms. Bringing its titles to market in both digital and physical formats, Leonardo Interactive has amassed a series of hits such as Dry Drowning and Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town. Their next release is Daymare: 1994 Sandcastle.

About Moonwolf Entertainment

Moonwolf Entertainment is a game development company that specializes in the creation of games for all platforms, in collaboration with developers and publishers from all over the world.

About A2 Softworks

A2 Softworks is a video game development studio best known for making aRPG coop and survival title Gatewalkers. The company specializes in cross-platform multiplayer games for PC, mobile devices, and consoles. It also designs and creates its own games in collaboration with publishers from all over the world. Leonardo Interactive.

Article by: Susan N.

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